diff --git a/utils/service/geo_service.go b/utils/service/geo_service.go
index 2ac7952..b54e033 100644
--- a/utils/service/geo_service.go
+++ b/utils/service/geo_service.go
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ func (g *nominatimGeocoder) GetAddressFromCoordinates(latitude, longitude float6
 	}
 	defer resp.Body.Close()
 
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		log.Printf("Nominatim returned HTTP %d for lat=%f lon=%f", resp.StatusCode, latitude, longitude)
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("geocoding service returned status %d", resp.StatusCode)
+	}
+
 	// Read full response body
 	bodyBytes, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -68,6 +73,10 @@ func (g *nominatimGeocoder) GetAddressFromCoordinates(latitude, longitude float6
 		return "", err
 	}
 
+	if len(bodyBytes) > 0 && bodyBytes[0] == '<' {
+		log.Printf("Nominatim returned HTML instead of JSON (possible rate limit) for lat=%f lon=%f", latitude, longitude)
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("geocoding service unavailable (rate limited or network error)")
+	}
 
 	var result NominatimResponse
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(bodyBytes, &result); err != nil {